Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi says there is still a place for the Waitangi Tribunal despite calls from New Zealand First to disband the nearly 50-year-old tribunal.
The Winston Peters-led party voted in favour of a policy to abolish the tribunal by 2025 at its campaign launch on Sunday.
Northland NZ First candidate Shane Jones told teaonews.co.nz that the tribunal has become listless and lost focus from its purpose.
“He rite ki te waka e tere ana i runga i te mata o te tai e rapu ana i tētahi tauranga hōu mōna. Horekau e tika ana mā te Taraipiunara anō e rapu, e whakatau rānei he aha te huarahi hōu mōna. Mā mātou ngā kaitōrangapū, mā te whare pāremata. Nā te pāremata tēnā Tarapiunara i whai manawa ai i te tuatahi. Mā mātou ngā kaitōrangapū e whakatau mehemea e tika ana kia toe.”
(It is like a boat set adrift looking for another berth. The tribunal cannot decide what that new road ahead looks like. That is for MPs and Parliament. It was Parliament that first gave life to the tribunal. It is up to politicians to decide whether it stays or not.)
But Waititi says the future of the tribunal should be for iwi to decide.
“Mehemea kāore te Taraipiunara, kāore e hoki kōrero mai kāore a Ngāpuhi i tuku tā rātou mana ki roto i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Me pēhea rā ngā iwi kei te whanga tonu mai ki te eke ki te mahi o rātou kereme? Ko Te Whānau a Apanui tērā, Te Whakatōhea tērā, ko Ngāi Tai tēnā – ko Ngāpuhi tēnā.”
(If it wasn’t for the tribunal, Ngāpuhi wouldn’t have been able to prove it didn’t cede sovereignty. How will those iwi that are waiting be able to pursue their claims? That’s Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea, Ngai Tai, and even Ngāpuhi.)
“Kia kaha ki a tātou, ki te kore, mā wai rā e whakamātautauhia te kāwanatanga me ōna whakahaere katoa? Mā rātou e tohutohu ki ngā toenga kāore tō koutou paku aha ki roto i te kaupapa nei? Kāore e whakaaetia. Whai muri ake i te eketanga o ngā iwi katoa, tērā pea me whai whakaaro ki roto i ngā tūāhuatanga o te wā.”
(We need to be strong. If we aren’t, then who’ll challenge the government and their management? They’ll try and instruct the rest of those iwi who are left, if you don’t have anything to do with this, then I don’t agree. When all iwi are on board, then we can think about that issue with the tribunal.
Jones, and New Zealand First says the tribunal has long since ventured away from hearing tribal claims.
“Ōku whakaaro ake, kua hōhā ahau ki te mātorotoro haere o te Taraipiunara ki te tōtō mai i ngā kereme mai i ētahi o o tātou huanga mehemea kei te iwi Māori tōna mana motuhake kia tū ai he kāwanatanga hōu kei tēnā iwi, kei tēnā iwi. Hōhā katoa ahau ki ēnā mōmō kerememe ērā whakatau e whiriwhiringia ana e te Taraipiunara. Me hoki mai tātou te iwi Māori ki a tātou tamariki e taka ana i te raruraru, e rāweke ana.”
(In my personal opinion, I am fed up with the tribunal trying to get fat off our people, saying tribes are autonomous and able to set up their own parliaments, I’m fed up with all those claims the tribunal is hearing. Let’s focus on our young people who are struggling and falling into the pitfalls of life.)
Waititi, however, believes the tribunal is the strongest way to ensure the Crown is held accountable to the promises of the Treaty, signed 183 years ago.
“Mai i tēnei rā, tae ake ki te rā ka oti katoa ngā iwi, me pēhea rā te Kāwanatanga e whakahōnore te Tiriti? Hāunga ko ngā kereme Tiriti, engari me pēhea rā te whakahōnore, te whakatutuki i kōrero nei o mātou mātua tīpuna i hainatia e hia nei tau ki muri.”
(But from today to the day all iwi are on board, how will the government honour the treaty? Apart from claims, how will they honour and achieve what our ancestors wanted when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi many years ago.)
With political polls consistently pointing to a close election in October, both New Zealand First and the Māori Party could be crucial to forming the next government.
Despite that, Waititi doesn’t envisage being able to work with New Zealand in a coalition-type arrangement.
“Kāore mātou e kite i tētahi mea ōrite. Ko tā te Pāti Māori, ko mātou anake te pāti tangata whenua e hāngai tō ngā kōrero mō te oranga o Ngāi Tātou, me te mea hoki hei oranga mā te katoa, ehara ko Māori noa iho. Ko a mātou kaupapa here he hikihiki nei i te motu whānui.”
(We have no common interest. The Māori Party is the only native party that cares about the well-being of our people, and also the well-being of all, not only Māori. Our policy uplifts benefit the whole country.)
